4. Think beyond the immediate crisis to the long-term.
5. Bear in mind the expertise of local organizations.
6. Find out how prospective grantees operate.
7. Be accountable to those you are trying to help.
8. Communicate your work widely, and use it as an educational tool.
Disaster Grantmaking Resources
This page lists resources that provide general advice on the most appropriate ways to help those affected by overseas disasters. Please note that the following is provided for educational purposes only. Please consult the Disclaimer for a full explanation of the purposes and limitations of this information.
Disaster Grantmaking: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations (in PDF): A joint product of the Council on Foundations and the European Foundation Centre, this free publication suggests eight principles (listed to the left) plus practical tips for grantmakers to consider when responding to emergency situations.
Disaster Relief: Providing Assistance Through Charitable Organizations (in PDF): Prepared by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Exempt and Government Entities division. Although this publication does not focus on international grantmaking it extends advice on how to give through existing U.S. charitable organizations, how to set up a new charitable organization and the requirements for documentation.
Community Volunteers: The Front Line of Disaster Response: Explains how communities can prepare for national disasters by mobilizing grassroots organizations and volunteers.
Providing Long-term Services after Major Disasters: Identifies lessons learned from an evaluation of the American Red Cross September 11th Recovery Program.
Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies
"A Direct Approach to Disaster Relief", an article from June 3, 2011 from the New York Times on one corporation's approach to disaster relief.
Government and Multilateral Agencies
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID): The U.S. Government's foreign assistance agency site features updates on USAID relief efforts, summaries of international aid and disaster-relief activities, and fact sheets on crises around the world.
United Nations: The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) lists Humanitarian appeals by year as well as corresponding links to ReliefWeb.
ReliefWeb is a project of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The web site serves as a clearing house for information related to particular crises and disaster situations.
NGOs, Academic Institutions, and Foundations
InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. InterAction members have agreed to abide by a set of standards to ensure accountability to donors.
Intermediary/Partner Grantmaking Organizations are generally public charities that offer fee based-services designed to meet the needs of grantmakers and individuals who wish to give outside the country in which they are based but prefer not to take on the responsibilities of doing so directly. This section of the USIG website lists intermediaries by mission focus and geographic area.
Philanthropic Grant-Making for Disaster Management: Trend Analysis and Recommended Improvements: This report is a review of grant making related to natural disasters and complex humanitarian emergencies over the last decade, but is focused primarily on the years following September 11th 2001. Over a five-month period in 2006, the ISIM research team conducted over 25 interviews and collected and analyzed information on a range of different types of natural disasters and humanitarian emergencies. This report elaborates the general findings, makes recommendations and reflects on what appear to be best practice for improving the effectiveness of funding for disaster relief, management, prevention and mitigation.
Disaster Preparedness and Response Toolkit: A toolkit for preparing your foundation's internal operations and space in case of a disaster, helping your grantees and community prepare for a disaster, knowing what to do when a disaster hits, and preparing your foundation to provide grants in response to a disaster.
Disaster Accountability Project helps to improve disaster management systems through public accountability, citizen oversight and engagement, and policy research and advocacy
The National Center for Disaster Preparedness has resources on being prepared for a disaster
Corporate disaster relief: Best practices and lessons learned: The rising incidence and severity of natural disasters in recent years has prompted business to take a hard look at how it should be responding to these situations. The pressure from employees, government and the community to become involved is significant. What should companies do to provide positive support in the relief or recovery phase of a disaster?
